Nothing's Changed
by Nintendian
Summary: Underneath everything, Maya realizes that Phoenix hasn't changed at all these past seven years. - Maya/Phoenix.


_Author's Note: There might be some discrepancies in this because I don't know all the details of the plot. In my defense, I haven't played any Ace Attorney games, so please forgive me in advance. Phoenix/Maya is my one of my OTPs though, so I just had to write this!_

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><p><strong>Nothing's Changed<strong>

After seven years, she stumbled upon Nick sitting on a park bench, holding his head in his hands.

At first, Maya didn't notice that he was wearing his "hobo" hat and a ratty old hoodie, or that his chin was covered in stubble. She tried to play it cool, but before she knew it, her emotions were getting the better of her and she nearly tackled him, throwing her arms around him and giving him a great big bear hug. She expected the lawyer to return the embrace, but he all he did was glance up at her briefly, and then his gaze flicked away almost ashamedly.

When she pulled away, she noted for the first time that Phoenix had lost weight. He looked different somehow, but she couldn't quite place it. All that mattered was that she was seeing him again after an impossibly long seven years.

"Nick! Where've you been?"

All he did was sigh, looking weary and so much _older_.

_Wow, seven years sure does a lot to people,_ Maya thought, wondering if she looked—and acted—older too. He was acting inexplicably weird, and she was going to find out why. "You look like you just got rejected by a girl." At that, he scoffed. "What's the matter, Nick? Aren't you excited to see me?"

Phoenix opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but then closed it again. Confused, the spirit medium watched him intently for any reaction at all, but not before feeling a splatter on her head. She held up her hand, palm up. It was starting to rain. She felt the tiny raindrops sprinkling onto her palm from the dreary, cloud-covered gray sky above, sensing the beginnings of a violent downpour.

"It's gonna rain," she chirped, unfazed by his indifference. "We should go inside unless you want to get totally drenched."

"No."

It was the first word he'd spoken since their sort-of reunion, and for a second Maya was unsure if she had heard him right.

"Whaddya mean, no?" she demanded. It was the only logical response, after all.

"I said..." Phoenix finally met her gaze, his eyes dark, passive. "No thanks, I'm not going inside. I'm not going anywhere."

Maya stared at him, and it finally occurred to her that something must be wrong. This was a different Nick from the one she'd always known. For one, there was his disheveled appearance, his unkempt face. He always shaved, and the mere fact that he was covering up his spiky hair with a hat—usually, he would complain about getting hat hair. And Nick was never this dull, this lifeless. No matter what, even if he was in the worst of moods, he'd always talk to her, be patient with her, tell her everything.

That was what Maya needed him to do now. Tell her everything.

"Nick..." She put her hand on his arm, and when he didn't look up, she said his name louder, more insistently. "Nick. I know something happened, and you need to tell me about it."

The rain was coming down harder now, incessantly. She was getting soaked, and so was he—yet he didn't show any sign of caring. It made her angry, for some reason.

"Please." She was practically begging, and she knew Nick could hear the desperation in her voice. She gave him her puppy-dog look, the cute pout she always made whenever she wanted him to buy her burgers. When that didn't work, she repeated her request, this time firmer.

It didn't take long for him to crack.

"Maya, I..."

Phoenix told her everything, from presenting forged evidence to getting his badge taken away. His voice wavered several times as he spilled it all out to her, just like the rain that was pouring down on them. During his testimony, Maya kept nodding at all the right places, but inside she couldn't believe something like this had happened. Her mind whirled as she stood in that spot gazing down at him, her whole world suddenly turned upside down.

"Nick, so what are you going to do about it?" she asked him when he was finished, and he laughed bitterly, in a way that wasn't quite like him.

"What _can_ I do, Maya?" The former attorney said it resentfully, like he'd already given up, on himself, on the world.

All of a sudden, she became angry.

"You mean you're not going to do anything? You're just going to give up?"

"Well, there's really nothing else I can do, is there?"

"Are you kidding?" Her voice rose to a yell. "I know you, Nick, and whatever happens, I know you'd keep going! You wouldn't just...give up. You'd keep fighting." Maya paused, trying to keep her voice steady. It didn't work. "I hate seeing you like this, Nick... It... I can't stand it..."

Her voice broke, and to her complete dismay, she began crying. Furiously, Maya rubbed the tears away, leaving red streaks across her cheeks. She saw Phoenix's eyes soften. His arm reached out to her but after a moment's hesitation dropped back to his lap again, as if he meant to comfort her but wasn't sure how.

After a while, he spoke again. "Maya... You should probably leave. Or go inside, at least. You're getting drenched."

"I'm not leaving."

Her refusal evidently took Phoenix by surprise, as his eyes widened, although only slightly. "No, really," he said seriously. "I mean it. You'll catch a cold."

"I don't care," Maya replied stubbornly, crossing her arms. "You're going to catch a cold, too. I'm only leaving if you are."

When he shook his head, she shrugged. "Then I'm staying here with you." To prove her point, the medium plopped herself down next to him on the bench, ignoring the fact that her soaked clothes were sticking to her skin rather unpleasantly. Nick probably knew he couldn't argue with her when she made up her mind, for he groaned exasperatedly. The sound of his groan made her heart feel lighter, like things were back to normal again, as if she were pestering him to go out to eat and he were whining about his empty wallet.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?" A small, amused smile played on Nick's lips. Maya shook her head emphatically, and his voice became serious, grim again. "Maya, please go inside. I'm worried about you. I don't want you getting sick, and... you shouldn't be seen here with me. It'll look weird."

"Who cares what it looks like?"

"I look like I might as well be homeless, and you..." Phoenix shook his head, as if trying to convince himself something. "You shouldn't be here. Please go."

"Are you trying to get rid of me or something?" she said indignantly.

"No..."

"Well, I'm not budging an inch."

"Maya, please!" He was shouting now, as was she. Their voices echoed across the empty park, and for a second it occurred to her that if someone had seen the two, the scene must have looked incredibly strange. The spirit medium and the former attorney were sitting on the same bench under the relentless rain, yelling at each other. But their argument wasn't just about Maya going somewhere dry and warm—Nick was trying to push her away, to force her to leave his life for good. She didn't know why, but she wasn't going to stand for that.

"No!"

"Pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top?" he tried.

That brought a smile to her lips, but... "No."

"Why won't you go?" Phoenix sounded defeated.

"Because!" Maya cleared her throat. "Because I want to stay with you! I know, deep down, you haven't changed. Even though you're wearing clothes a hobo would wear, you're still the same Nick. What happened with the forged evidence wasn't your fault.

"You're still the Nick who used to take me out for burgers even though you complained about the bill. You're the Nick who tried to run across a burning bridge to save me. You're the Nick who would do anything for his friends. You're..." She paused for breath, noticing that she had started to cry again, but not caring.

"You're still the Nick I love!"

Seconds passed.

"Y-you...love?" Phoenix stuttered, as if unsure he had heard correctly.

"That's right, Phoenix Wright!" She crossed her arms and glared up at him. Secretly though, she'd always wanted to make that pun.

Minutes passed. The rain was still coming down, hard. Her declaration of love hung in the air between them for what seemed like forever, and Nick still wasn't saying anything. She risked a glance at him, but he was just sitting there speechlessly, his mouth opening and closing but nothing coming out. The look in his eyes was unreadable.

Suddenly Maya inwardly cursed herself for blurting out such a thing, at such a time. What had she been thinking? She swiped her arm across her face and stood up hastily, hoping he couldn't see that she was trembling. "Um, well, I, uh... I'd better go now." Her words came out in a stammer. "I mean, you were right, I should go someplace to dry off..." the medium blabbered.

She turned to go, but Phoenix grabbed her arm rather forcefully and pulled her back to the bench. He seemed to have finally gotten himself together. When she tried to resist, the former attorney stood up and tugged her toward him until they were face to face. He cupped her face in both hands, lovingly, and ran his hand gently along her cheek. Now they were nose to nose. She could almost taste his breath—it smelled like grape juice.

She couldn't breathe.

"No, I see now. _You_ were right," he murmured softly, then leaned down and kissed her.

An electric tingle ran down her back the moment her lips met his warm ones. She could hardly believe this was happening. She was kissing Phoenix Wright.

Everything else suddenly just went out the window, and she forgot where they were, that they were still being mercilessly pelted by rain. The former attorney wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her closer, the other stroking her wet hair, and Maya put her hand on his broad chest, noticing that he was surprisingly warm. She snuggled into him as close as possible, trying to gain as much as his body heat as possible.

But before she knew it, Phoenix was pulling away. "You're shivering," he said with concern.

"I don't care, as long as I'm here with you," she replied breathlessly.

He chuckled, looking happier than he had ever looked that day. "And I would say the same, but I'm worried for you. Let's go inside."

"Of course. Anywhere."

"I thought you wanted to stay here and get soaked," Nick teased her lightly. She hit him on the shoulder as hard as she could, which probably didn't hurt at all since she was so weak from the cold.

"Shut up, Nick!"

"You're a strange one, you know that?"

Maya wisely chose to ignore him. "Let's just go inside," she insisted. "I thought you didn't want me to get sick." Phoenix laughed again, and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, led her away. She knew she and Nick still had countless problems to solve and questions to answer, but if they were together, she wasn't worried about what the future would bring. Not at all.


End file.
